FROM READERS: A snowy end to 2012

Missourian reader John Hall shares this photo of the snowfall in Columbia he took on New Year's Eve.¦ John Hall/Missourian Reader

John Hall frequently photographs his mid-Missouri surroundings, and he has been sharing his images with the Missourian for several years.

New Year's Eve got here about the time I was getting out of bed. I arose to the sound of clatter and chatter and then headed out to join my grandson for breakfast. He said the forecast was an inch of snow. I told him that it probably wouldn't happen. I went outside an hour later and sure enough, the grandson's iPhone had accurately forecast the weather.

My early morning job was getting a red Mustang in for a new windshield that a gravel truck had been responsible for shattering late last week. As fate would have it, when the car was taken to be fixed, it was across the street from the Walter Leroy Anderson salt shop. I didn't know that place was there but should have, since when I dropped the car off earlier in the day all I saw were lines of trucks. Wasn't the guy who wrote "Sleigh Ride" named Leroy Anderson? Do you think someone was clever enough to name the "salt shack" after him?

Without my son having wheels, I had to take him on his morning rounds to places like the telephone company, in the downtown area, and as you can see, the brick roads are still the best ever made. The sign on the big building says "Columbia College," but it is actually the Municipal Court Building. They lure people into court in this town by fooling them with false fronts.

If anyone is in the market for a panel vehicle, there are a bunch of them that Wonder Bread Company won't need any more. I guess I could have taken some better pictures of the bread wagons, but it was snowing and I was on the wrong side of four lane traffic when I spotted them. Without Wonder Bread, how are children going to grow strong bodies all the number of ways Wonder Bread said it would? But, the greatest loss to humanity is the Twinkie, which someone will resurrect and call "Easter loaves." (I just came up with that one in a moment of awareness.)

The rest of the photos don't require much explanation unless you live on some paradise isle. This photo is that of a sign in front of a school near my house. When Ronald Reagan was president, the Secret Service shut down this whole end of town as he cited that place as being outstanding. My question is "How long does an outstanding citation remain in effect?"

Enjoy the street scenes from my two round trips to the windshield repair shop. I'm enjoying the cooler weather, as 2012 was the hottest year this part of the country has experienced since weather records have been kept.